Pressure on lawmakers to reach a deal to end the government shutdown is expected to rise this week with the prospect that workers will begin to lose paychecks, including members of the military.

Republicans and Democrats have dug in on the shutdown and are showing few signs of compromising, but the prospect of being blamed for lost pay in past shutdowns has been a pressure point leading to progress.

President Trump on Saturday directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to pay troops during the shutdown by using previously appropriated funds, seeking to sidestep the issue after Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said he would not bring the House back to vote on a stand-alone bill on military pay.

Johnson argues the House has already passed legislation to fund the government that would pay the military in the form of a stopgap funding bill, and that a stand-alone bill would take Democrats off the hook.

But Trump, perhaps not wanting to get any blamed for the loss of military pay, said in a post on Truth Social that Hegseth should use "all available funds to get our Troops PAID on October 15th.”

“We have identified funds to do this, and Secretary Hegseth will use them to PAY OUR TROOPS,” Trump said.

The Defense Department identified “approximately $8 billion of unobligated research development testing and evaluation funds (RDTE) from the prior fiscal year that will be used to issue mid-month paychecks to service members in the event the funding lapse........

© The Hill